Bhubaneswar/Baripada: Efforts are on to trace an NRI couple from Odisha who have gone missing in Nepal following devastating flash floods, officials said Thursday.
Sandeep Mohapatra and his wife Sidharthi Kumari Sahu, originally from Khordha district and settled in Australia since 2018, have been untraceable since the flash floods hit the Himalayan country, Pritish Panda, the nodal officer appointed to assist distressed Odias in Nepal, said.
“We are trying to establish contact with them, but have failed so far. Their mobile phones were found switched off,” Panda told PTI.
The couple reached Nepal from Australia August 22 to visit tourist spots.
Sandeep spoke to his family in Khordha on the evening of August 25 while travelling by bus near the Tibet border, his brother Sworup Mohapatra said.
“We received information about the devastation August 26, and since then, we have been unable to reach out to my brother and sister-in-law,” Sworup said.
The couple has a son residing in Odisha, he said.
Sworup appealed to the Odisha and Union governments as well as the Nepalese authorities to trace the couple.
“I pray to God for their safe return,” he said.
Apart from the couple, authorities also received calls from family members of a football team from Bhubaneswar visiting Nepal.
“The players’ family members were distressed because their mobile phones were unreachable Wednesday. Today, we contacted their coach. They are safe,” Panda said.
The football players and their coach are in Pokhara, around 200 km from the flood-hit area, he said, adding that efforts were underway for their safe return.
Odisha Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj said, “The football players are safe, and they are not in the flood-hit region. A senior officer has been assigned responsibility for the team’s safe return.”
A Puri resident, Rakesh Ranjan Panda, and his two associates, who were in Nepal Wednesday, entered India Thursday morning, the nodal officer said, citing a report from the Ministry of External Affairs.
Meanwhile, a woman from Baripada in Mayurbhanj district told reporters that she was unable to contact her 21-year-old sister, who had travelled to Nepal August 22.
“Kulsum Nigara went to Nepal through the Bihar border August 22 with her friends on a trip. The 12-member team was in the Pokhara area August 25, and they went trekking that day. Since then, we have been unable to contact Nigara and her friends after the flash flood,” Kulsum’s elder sister said.
The death toll in the massive flash floods in Nepal rose to 270 as the authorities in the neighbouring country are racing against time to find thousands of missing people, including 288 Indian tourists, in one of the country’s worst disasters in recent years.
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